Hollywood Week: The Messenger - A Lesson in Extravagance, Superbowl 2024, Carl Weathers

Details: Category: Entertainment News; Published on Saturday, 03 February 2024 12:22; Written by Janet Walker

The Messenger, the latest and most spectacular example of the shifting digital news ecosystem, fell dramatically and has now landed in court as former staffers, the crème de la crème of many former news organizations, were unceremoniously terminated.

The Messenger: A Lesson in Extravagance

Jimmy Finkelstein, the founder of the failed digital, attempted to hide the financial distress from his 300+ employees until the twelfth hour, with the first notice of a fading heartbeat appearing in a wave of social media posts, and finally verified, with an "effective immediately" memo from the organizations founder.

Hollywood Week: Academy Award Nomination Surprises, Sundance Winners

Staffers have filed a class action lawsuit in New York State Southern District claiming the employer had an obligation to warn them of possible layoffs at least 60 to 90 days in advance of any mass layoff or closure. Employees are seeking up to 60 days lost wages and benefits.

"Mr. Finkelstein, an entrepreneur with decades of experience running publications like The Hollywood Reporter and The Hill, attracted $50 million in investments for the untested start-up. The Messenger's backers include Josh Harris, a co-founder of the private-equity giant Apollo, and Thomas Peterffy, the former chief executive of Interactive Brokers. Mr. Harris was a backer of The Hill, which Mr. Finkelstein sold to Nexstar in 2020 for $130 million," reported The New York Times.

Finkelstein, who many say that even with his successful sale of The Hill in 2020 he didn't have the vision to see even in the few short years since that success, the digital advertising landscape has shifted exponentially, and the old model was already outdated.

His big vision required expert journalists, poached from well-known and respected magazines reduced to mass producing articles from third party sources, a task usually reserved for interns. Finklestein's ability to take this aggregation model and turn it into a money maker at The Hill, just didn't generate the user interest, and as he was hoping to compete with highbrow intellectual thinking sites, with numbers known from his old magazines, the stale news, without a fresh twist sank.

The sinking of The Messenger, while it has generated content across many digital and print platforms, is not the only publication that has shuttered in the past year or experienced deep cuts.

Tech: Newest Phone Chargers - Never Leave Home Without One

The Future of Journalism

Traditional journalism, which many consider print publications (actual physical newspapers and magazines), broadcast (think the nightly news) and AM and FM radio has, since the advent of the digital landscape, seen a continual evolution.

AM radio, once a staple in new cars is being removed by automakers; Since 2005 communities across America have lost 2,891 newspapers which have not been replaced, even mainstream, the big three network choices for evening news have undergone a transformation with the increase of instant news, minute news updates from TikTok or other video options.

Journalism is at a crossroads and the only choice for media leaders, from community based to mainstream global is to conform, see the future through the eyes of the FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) tech giants, because they are devouring the ad space.

The recent numbers of ad revenue from Q4 2023 for Amazon sent a shockwave through digital ad sales as the online retailer generated $14.65 billion and like The Messenger, in starkly polarized points of view, each became the example of the future.

It is a challenge. An adage in financial investing, "vice over nice, vice works every time," represents the direction of online advertising. How far into vice is the question of every online publication. Other options for digitals include consumer based direct target market focused advertising. The next evolution, and it is already here, is not in the demise of traditional media but in the demise of traditional ad revenue generation for digital and community-based journalism.

Hollywood Week: Sundance Kicks Off, BAFTA Shocks, SI Shuttered, Alec Baldwin, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Superbowl Countdown

Speaking of advertising revenue, the Super Bowl has continuously generated the highest ad rates for 30 second spots of any broadcast program, with advertisers shelling out big money and tapping well-known Hollywood's biggest names, from directors to actors and actress to pitch their product. Super Bowl LVIII is no different.

Ad revenue for Super Bowl LVIII has remained consistent with 2023 at 7million for a 30 second spot. "How much does a 30-second commercial cost? Multiple sources have reported that the average cost of a 30-second ad for the 2024 Super Bowl will be $7 million. This is the same as the cost of the 2023 Super Bowl ad and slightly higher than the cost of a 30-second ad in 2022, which was $6.5 million," reported en.as.com.

Hollywood Week: Awards Season, Golden Globes, SAG, DGA, Parasite Director Questions Paparazzi, Police Tactics

And another surprising story coming out of Las Vegas and Allegiant Stadium, are the shocking price of Super Bowl tickets, which are being sold for a staggering $8,000. At this point, one week from kickoff, the luxury suites, which sold for 2.5million, are probably all sold out.

Las Vegas is on countdown to Super Bowl Sunday, with the annual pre-game breakfast on Saturday, February 10, 2024 of which this media, Haute-Lifestyle.com has secured Superbowl Breakfast media credentials.

Carl Weathers Dies

Carl Weathers, a former professional football players turned actor, died this week. He was 76.

For a generation of movie goers, Weathers was the original Apollo Creed, in the 1976 academy award winning film "Rocky." Weathers played the taunting, world champion boxer, who saw Rocky as a publicity stunt. His captivating performance alongside the underdog, Rocky, played by Sylvester Stallone, catapulted the actor into more mainstream roles.

"Mr. Weathers had a long and varied acting career that took him far beyond the boxing ring. He displayed his range over some 80 film and television credits. He memorably parodied himself as an acting coach in several episodes of the sitcom "Arrested Development." Recently, he was the voice of Combat Carl in the animated movie "Toy Story 4" and played Greef Karga in the "Star Wars" television series "The Mandalorian," earning an Emmy Award nomination in 2021 for outstanding guest actor in a drama series," reported The New York Times.

The actor died peacefully in his sleep, his family said.